Top New Products for Travel with Kids in 2015

It’s hard to believe it, but 2015 is coming to a close. The year has been filled with lots of travels for my family and lots of new travel gear along the way. As my son entered his toddler years and my 6 year old graduated from a lot of the “little kid” stuff, we’ve used and previewed quite a few new products for traveling with kids at various ages and stages.

I’ve called this car seat the “perfect seat for air travel.” The Cosco Scenera NEXT is the next generation Cosco Scenera that many family travelers have used for their kids the past several years. It does it even better for just a few dollars more. It’s $44 at Walmart, and is so light that I can actually lift it with my single index finger. If you’ve ever lugged a heavy car seat through an airport or down an airplane aisle, you know how every pound counts. Check out my complete review of the Cosco Scenera NEXT for full analysis of the pros and the (very few) cons of this car seat.

For older kids who no longer need a car seat but who still need a booster for car rides, help is on the way. In 2015, the “mifold” booster seat launched its fundraising campaign on Indiegogo and parents went crazy. The initial fundraising goal was met in days and now nearly $1 million has been raised.

What’s so great about mifold? It’s too early for me to have gotten my hands on a sample, but I’ve watched the product closely and even pre-ordered one for myself. This is going to be a must-have for traveling parents because the mifold is just so tiny. It could fit in a purse or daypack for taking cabs around town while you are traveling. It works differently than other boosters by pulling the seatbelt down to hit younger children in the right spot (rather than raising them up to fit like a booster would). It is also slim enough to fit three across if you have more than one child of safety seat age. I can really see this product being a game changer for those with kids ages 4 and up while traveling. You’ll never have to gamble about going without a booster in a cab again.

Don’t want to take a stroller on your vacation but fear your child is too young for a long airport walk? Lugabug is the perfect solution for kids in that in-between stage. The product was developed by two parents who traveled a lot with their young kids, and it launched on Kickstarter earlier this year. Lugabug is a nylon seat that attaches over the handle of your suitcase or carryon bag. Your child sits in and you simply pull them along with the bag.

Lugabug is extremely light and compact and really doesn’t take up any extra luggage space. It’s easy to tuck it in the front pocket of your carryon bag or just attach it on the outside. Plus, it’s just darn fun. What kid doesn’t want to ride along attached to mom or dad’s suitcase? The entertainment value is huge. I can definitely see wheeling my toddler around in it on a long layover or flight delay just to pass the time. And the product serves a super-practical function when your kid just won’t walk any more and you are rushing to make a flight.

Lugabug is recommended for kids 2 years and up and up to a weight of 60 pounds.

What do you think about these 3 products? Any others you’ve seen this year that you are excited about?

Need other travel gear recommendations for taking babies, toddlers, and kids on your next vacation? Here are other gear guides you might enjoy:

Disclosure: Lugabug provided Trips With Tykes with a complimentary sample for review purposes. As always, all opinions are my own!

Thanks for coming by to comment. Appreciate your perspective and share the personal preference as a parent of keeping kids in 5 point harnesses for as long as possible (as well as keeping toddlers rear-facing as long as possible, while we’re on the subject). But parents are allowed to make those choices for themselves within the range of what the law allows. I know from personal experience that often parents sometimes simply can’t choose the most ideal option when traveling. Anything that improves upon the safety experience of what they are already doing (and many are going without a booster entirely for an older child in cabs or on trips) is a welcome development in my book.

My child was too tall to continue in the 5 point car seat at 4. She struggled to fit. I tried to make it work till the limitations. I want her to be as safe as possible and now she is almost 6. I believe that it is different for each child based on weight and height, not just age.

There are 5-point-harness-to-booster convertible seats that you may want to look at for your daughter. My 8-year-old still rides in her 5-point harness Britax Frontier at home, and we just got back from a trip where we just used a little booster for her. Traveling with the little booster is a game-changer after lugging her giant, heavy Britax with us on every trip!

Also depends on the size of the child. My boys out grew the rear-facing car seat at 6 months, And were over 60lbs., and too tall for a regular car seat at age 4. I do agree that they should travel the safest way possible for as long as possible.

There is no way a 6 month old could be too big for a rear facing convertible seat. Also it is illegal for them to face forward at that age. Not intending to judge past actions, but I want parents of babies to know this is not safe or legal.

I understand. My 6 year old girl is the average height and size of a skinny 8 ir 9 year old. She is only about 1/2 shorter than my 8 year old son (who is on the taller side of average,) and she is exactly 50 lbs. She wears what equates to a size 5 1/2 or 6 in women’s shoes. My husband is 6’4 and wears a size 14. She started in a high back booster when she was 4 because she outgrew the tallest strap placement in the “tall” 5 point booster. She outgrew the highback booster shortly after (6 months, maybe.) We do use the built in seat belt adjuster with our boosters. The hard part will be keeping her in hers when my son ages out in about a month.

As a professional child passenger safety technician- I’d be catious of the mifold,. t doesn’t appear to have any “boost” which puts a child’s legs closed to a 90 degree angle and potentially reduces the severity of injury in a crash. Certainly something is better than nothing, but do your due dilligence when deciding if this will be a good option for your child.

Has the mifold been through any safety tests? I very much worry about something that augments the seatbelt. That may cause it to misfire and not lock in an accident. Something claiming to change the seatbelt itself should be crash dummy testing big time before I would ever strap a kid into it.

Too bad they haven’t come up with how to fit three carseats along the back for parents with more than one child that all still need the seat for protection! This would be a real game changer! So the parents can still use a compact cart instead of having to get a van or suv.

We’re trying to bring a new product to market that can help with kids and travelling on flights, we have a 3 & 5 year old and travel a lot, especially on flights with no entertainment, that has led to us launching TabletHookz™ on the crowdfunding site kickstarter. It’s a mounting to allow your tablet or smartphone to be mounted out the way on the back of the seat in front (or used as a normal stand) foe hands-free viewing – basically we wanted to recreate those quite moments when they are sat happily infront of the TV at home watching their favourite programme.

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Welcome! I’m Leslie, a mom of two (ages 8 and 3) who loves to travel. Trips With Tykes is a family travel blog devoted to simplifying the logistics of traveling with young kids. With a little knowledge of airline rules & good planning, family travel can be really fun, even if it still involves the occasional in-flight tantrum or battle with TSA over your toddler’s juice box.